Businesses
that exploit military service men and women are just below child molesters,
crooked politicians and liberal mainstream media revisionists.

There
exists a group of predatory lenders who specifically target military personnel
and jack them up with abusive contracts and outrageous cumulative fees.

Although
there has been some federal and state actions to chill the jets of financial
services outfits exploiting solider, sailors, airmen and marines, the
systemic dysfunction and malfeasance needs immediate attention.

Especially
at a time when our military is so heavily tasked and money tight, companies
and individuals who seek to take advantage of troops is reprehensible.

In addition
to the streets outside military bases being packed with car dealers and
bars, moneylenders, check cashers, payday lenders, pawnshops and loan
companies have become as ubiquitous as pigeon droppings…and more offensive.

The
New York Times reports the biggest lender to military types is Pioneer
Financial Services. They are a Missouri based company with one of its
largest offices outside Camp Pendleton in California. According to their
own corporate filings, Pioneer’s sole business is marketing their financial
services exclusively to the military.

This
is exactly the sort of thing the California Department of Corporations
ought to aggressively investigate. Beyond the alleged fee packing fine
print, Pioneer also seems to ‘imply’ that it is somehow associated or
endorsed by the military.

Former
Army Ranger Representative Geoff Davis has accused Pioneer of “making
high-cost loans with hidden fees.” But that’s a broad brush legislative
language ding…some argue that Pioneer intentionally uses complicated loan
forms, packed with ultra fine print, which adds costs…lots of costs (origination
fees, credit life insurance, accident and health, casualty insurance and
other requirements that frankly are not necessary.

Pioneer’s
own public filings show it aggressively refinances existing loans before
maturity in order to maximize fee income. Double dipping is bad enough
but when the victims are young military troops, such a practice would
gag most self-respecting maggots.

Notwithstanding
the Davis effort, Pioneer has their own congress critter, Rep. Sam Graves
who would prefer to remove Pioneer’s competition. Graves has a bill (H.R.
97)…a real piece of work…basically regulates the payday advance industry
out of business. The net result would be to create few options other than
Pioneer’s unique for usury for service men and women seeking short-term
small loans.

H.R.
97 is a bad apple. It is a classic special-interest bill designed and
intended to benefit one company…and a bad company to boot.

The
superior solution is the Military Personnel Financial Services Act (H.R.
458), which has already passed the House. It regulates EVERYone who markets
financial services to military personnel, including insurance companies,
payday lenders, title loan companies AND Pioneer. It ends hidden fees,
stops abusive collection practices and requires special protections for
our special service men and women.

Public
Interest Watch, a Washington watchdog group (and Pioneer critic) has lauded
H.R. 458 as the best way “to eliminate the unscrupulous practices of military
lenders.”

Additionally,
the bill stops lenders from misrepresentations and pretending to be connected
formally or otherwise with the military. Reportedly such misrepresentations
are a much-favored tactic of Pioneer’s marketing. At least one state attorney
general is already investigating them for their lending practices.

Military
personnel get paid once a month. They sometimes find they need short-term
‘hey you’ loans. It is a service troops want and need. It is imperative
that there are strict regulations to chill the jets of predatory lenders.

Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts!

Enter Your E-Mail Address:

We as
a country want and need our young service members. They are the lifeblood
of our efforts to fight the war on terror. It is beyond reprehensible
that smarmy finance companies would target these national treasures and
it is beyond contempt that elected officials could be so inimitably malfeasant
as to enable bad companies doing bad stuff.

"Geoff Metcalf is a nationally syndicated radio
talk show host for TALK AMERICA
and a veteran media performer. He has had an eclectic professional background
covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers.
A former Green Beret and retired Army officer he is in great demand as
a speaker. Visit Geoff's